Laboratory instrument control system

ABSTRACT

A server computer system connected to a first communications network. The server computer includes an instrument communications component configured to communicate with and control a plurality of biological reagent instruments using the first communications network and a user interface component configured to cause user interface (UI) instances to be displayed by a client computer device connected by a second communications network to said server computer system. The UI instances control respective virtual pods representing one or more of said biological reagent instruments.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 14/366,814, filed Jun. 19, 2014, now patent Ser. No. 10/054,913,issue date Aug. 21, 2018, which is a National Stage of InternationalApplication No. PCT/AU2012/001606 filed Dec. 21, 2012, claiming thebenefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 61/579,409 filed Dec. 22, 2011,the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a laboratory instrument control system,and in particular to a network control system for controlling biologicalreagent instruments.

BACKGROUND

Computer-based control systems have been developed to directly controlbiological reagent instruments. The instruments are used toautomatically apply biological reagents to samples, tissue samples inparticular, placed on slides held by the instruments. Instruments ofthis type are described in International Patent Publications WO04/001390 and WO 04/08857. A small number of instruments, for example upto five, in one location may be considered to form a “pod”, and can bedirectly controlled by a dedicated computer system.

There are a number of technical problems and limitations associated withexisting control systems. For example, the pods are isolated from eachother, and there is no communication or data sharing between them. Auser of a control system also has to attend a laboratory and thelocation of the control system and pod to effect control and operate thesystem. Laboratory Information Systems (LIS's) also are required to beindependently connected to the control system of each pod.

It is desired to alleviate one or more difficulties with the prior art,or at least provide a useful alternative.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a server computer systemconnected to a first communications network and including:

-   -   an instrument communications component configured to communicate        with and control a plurality of biological reagent instruments        using the first communications network; and    -   a user interface component configured to cause user interface        (UI) instances to be displayed by a client computer device        connected by a second communications network to said server        computer system;    -   wherein said UI instances control respective virtual pods        representing one or more of said biological reagent instruments.

Embodiments of the present invention further provide a control systemincluding an authentication computer system which allows a user with aclient computer device to log on to said authentication computer systemusing identification data of said user, and to invoke execution of anauthentication process to generate credential data for authenticatingsaid client device for a communications session with a server computersystem, the communications session enabling the user at the clientcomputer device to control one or more biological reagent instruments inone or more virtual pods.

Embodiments of the present invention further provide a method ofgenerating a user-interface instance for use by a client computer deviceto control, through a communications network, a virtual pod representingone or more biological reagent instruments, the method including thestep of generating and sending to the client computer device theuser-interface instance based on user-specific information obtained fromidentification data of said user, and based one or more virtual poddefinitions associated with the user-specific information.

Embodiments of the present invention further provide a method ofgenerating a user-interface (UI) instance for use by a client computerdevice to control, through a communications network, a virtual podrepresenting one or more biological reagent instruments, the methodincluding the steps of:

-   -   receiving from the client computer device through the        communications network a request for the UI instance;    -   generating and sending a first UI instance to the client        computer device through the communications network, the first UI        instance enabling a user to enter identification data of the        user;    -   receiving, from a user management component, credential data for        authenticating the client computer device;    -   retrieving user-specific information from a database component        using the credential data, and retrieving from said or another        database component one or more virtual pod definitions using the        retrieved user-specific information;    -   generating and sending to the client computer device the        user-interface instance based on the user-specific information        and the one or more virtual pod definitions, the user-interface        instance enabling a user at the client computer device to        control only the virtual pods defined by the virtual pod        definitions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are described herein, by wayof example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an architecture diagram illustrating a communications networkconnected to a number of peripheral devices.

FIG. 2 is a data schema for virtual pod definition data.

FIG. 3 is an architecture diagram illustrating a client device connectedto an authentication computer system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process that may be undertaken by a server computersystem to generate a user-interface instance for use by a clientcomputer device.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an exemplary user interface.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an exemplary architecture of a servercomputer system configured to generate a user-interface instance for useby a client computer device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an architecture in which a server computer system 110is connected, through a communications network 115, to a plurality ofbiological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f. The communications network115 may be a private local area network, a wide area network, theInternet, a virtual private network or any other kind of communicationsnetwork, and may include either wireless or wired communication links,or both. Also connected to the communications network 115 is alaboratory information system (LIS) 125.

LIS's are information systems maintained and controlled by laboratoriesthat use biological reagent instruments to process tissue and othermedical samples. LIS's often store patient data, including diagnostictests or procedures that may need to be run on samples from specificpatients. LIS's are typically off the shelf systems or systems that arecustomized to the needs of each laboratory.

The biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f may be any biologicalreagent instruments such as advanced staining instruments, autostainers,tissue processors, coverslippers and microarray (DNA, RNA, protein,tissue) instruments, although embodiments of the present invention areparticularly suited for use with fully automated instruments, such asthe BOND-MAX and Bond III immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridisationinstruments sold by Leica Microsystems, for example. The biologicalreagent instruments may also include one or more of the various types ofbiological instruments. For example, the biological reagent instrumentsof one embodiment of the invention may include a combination of advancedstaining instruments and tissue processors. Descriptions of exemplarybiological reagent instruments can be found in International PatentApplication no. WO 2004/001390 A1 entitled “Biological ReactionApparatus with Draining Mechanism” and in WO 2009/152569 entitled“Improvements in Staining Instruments and Methods”, both in the name ofthe present applicant, and the descriptions of the biological reagentinstruments therein are hereby expressly incorporated herein byreference.

The biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f may be located in anysite to which a computer network connection such as, but not limited to,an internet connection, data transfer connection, wired or wirelessconnection may be achieved. The biological reagent instruments 120 a-120f may be located in the same or different geographic locations; forexample, different areas of a single laboratory, or in differentlaboratories located at the same or at different sites. It may be usefulto have biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f spatially co-locatedin groups, such that a single operator has easy simultaneous physicalaccess to a group of instruments 120 a-120 f.

Each of the biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f is controlled bythe server computer system 110, and more specifically, an instrumentcommunications component 110 a of the server computer system 110. Theinstrument communications component 110 a sends instructions through thecommunications network 115 to the biological reagent instruments 120a-120 f, and receives messages (including status messages) frombiological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f. Server computer system 110can be of any configuration, including, for example, a single computerhaving at least one CPU, or multiple distributed multi-CPU machinesacting in concert. The instrument communications component 110 a may bea software application, a configurable hardware component such as aField Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or a dedicated hard ware componentsuch as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or anycombination of these.

The server computer system 110 also includes a user interface component110 b. The user interface component 110 b generates and sends userinterface (UI) instances to one or more client computer devicesconnected to the server computer system 110 by a communications link ornetwork. The communications link or network may be the same network 115by which the server computer system 110 communications with biologicalreagent instruments 120 a-120 f (communications network 115), or may bea different communications link or network. FIG. 1 shows, as an example,two client computer devices 130 a and 130 b. Each UI instance isdisplayed on one or more display devices (e.g. video display units,monitors etc) (not shown) associated with a client computer device (130a, 130 b). This enables a user at either client computer device 130 a,130 b to interact with the corresponding UI instance, and therefore tointeract with the server computer system 110, to send instructions to,and receive messages from, the one or more biological reagentinstruments 120 a-120 f.

The user interface component 110 b may generate and send the userinterface instances indirectly by generating and sending to the one ormore client computer devices 130 a, 130 b instructions for launching orgenerating the user interface instances. Alternatively, user interfacecomponent 110 b may generate and send user interface instances bygenerating and sending to the one or more client computer devices 130,130 b instructions for client software already installed at the one ormore client computer devices (including, for example, instructions tothe client software to launch a user interface instance).

The server computer system 110 may also be at any location, as long asit is connected, via one or more communications networks, to clientcomputer devices 130, 130 b and biological reagent instruments 120 a-120f.

Each UI instance controls a respective virtual pod. A virtual podrepresents one or more of the biological reagent instruments 120 a-120f. FIG. 1 shows the biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f dividedinto two virtual pods, with biological reagent instruments 120 a, 120 band 120 c grouped into a first virtual pod 140 a, and biological reagentinstruments 120 d, 120 e and 120 f grouped into a second virtual pod 140b. The UI instance invoked and sent by the clinical user interface 110 bto client computer device 130 a is used to control the first virtual pod140 a. Similarly, the UI instance invoked and sent by the clinical userinterface 110 b to client computer device 130 b is used to control thesecond virtual pod 140 b. In a general sense, the size of the virtualpod may be of an unlimited scale. However, in practice the size of avirtual pod is usually based on the physical space available at eachsite, or by the number of biological reagent instruments that aredesired to be controlled by a single user or client computer device.

In one embodiment, a virtual pod may include more than 500 biologicalreagent instruments. In a further embodiment, a virtual pod may includefrom 250 to 500 biological reagent instruments. In one embodiment, avirtual pod may include from 100 to 250 biological reagent instruments.In a further embodiment, a virtual pod may include from 20 to 100biological reagent instruments. In a further embodiment, a virtual podmay include 6 to 20 biological reagent instruments. In a furtherembodiment, a virtual pod may include from 1 to 5 biological reagentinstruments.

The biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f may be grouped intovirtual pods on the basis of any criterion or criteria. In someembodiments, commonly configured biological reagent instruments aregrouped together in a virtual pod. For example, biological reagentinstruments 120 a, 120 b and 120 c may be configured exclusively toundertake research activities, virtual pod 140 a becoming a “researchpod”. Similarly, biological reagent instruments 120 d, 120 e and 120 fmay form a “clinical pod” 140 b, each of the instruments 120 d, 120 eand 120 f being configured to exclusively undertake clinical activities.This means that client computer system 130 a controls, by means of theserver computer system 110, the research pod 140 a, while clientcomputer system 130 b controls, again by means of the server computersystem 110, the clinical pod 140 b. All of the members of the clinicalpod 140 b (namely biological reagent instruments 120 d, 120 e and 1200may be configured to use only a predetermined set of procedures, beingthose procedures suitable for clinical activities. Similarly, theresearch pod biological reagent instruments 120 a, 120 b and 120 c maybe configured to use a predetermined set of reagents, some of which maybe suitable for research use but have not yet been sufficiently testedfor clinical use, and a predetermined set of procedures (again, some ofwhich may not be suitable for clinical use).

As one example, twenty biological reagent instruments may be groupedinto two virtual pods. A first virtual pod may contain nine biologicalreagent instruments used to assist with clinical diagnosis. The secondvirtual pod may contain eleven biological reagent instruments, used forresearch only. The biological reagent instruments in the first virtualpod may be configured to only run protocols or procedures that have beenapproved by an independent third party.

In another example, twenty-five biological instruments may be groupedinto three virtual pods. The first virtual pod may be for test protocolsand procedures, and the six biological instruments in this pod may beconfigured to use experimental procedures, possibly with experimentalreagents. The second virtual pod may consist of ten biological reagentinstruments used for clinical diagnosis. The third virtual pod,consisting of nine biological reagent instruments, may be used forresearch purposes only.

In a further example, a virtual pod of five instruments may consist ofthree instruments that are used for clinical diagnosis, and twoinstruments used for research purposes.

As indicated above, virtual pods may be of any size, and may consist ofbiological reagent instruments that are similarly configured, oralternatively may consist of biological reagent instruments that areotherwise related (for example, instruments in the same geographiclocation). Alternatively, the virtual pods may consist of biologicalreagent instruments that are not similarly configured or located in thesame geographic location.

In addition to controlling a virtual pod representing a group ofbiological reagent instruments, the UI instance invoked and sent by theuser interface component 110 b to the client computer device (130 a, 130b) may control one or more peripheral devices. For example, thebiological reagent instruments of the research pod 140 a (120 a, 120 band 120 c) may be commonly configured to use a common set of peripheraldevices such, for example, a label printer 135 a, standard printer,barcode scanner/reader 138 a, RFID scanner/reader, biometricscanner/reader, and other digital imaging devices. The peripheraldevices, such as the label printer 135 a and barcode scanner 138 a maybe directly connected to the server computer system 110 through thecommunications network 115. Alternatively, the peripheral devices may beconnected directly to the client computer device 130 a. Regardless ofhow the peripheral devices are connected, they are associatedexclusively or non-exclusively with a corresponding virtual pod.

The virtual pods 140 a, 140 b are defined by pod definition data, whichis stored in a database component 110 c of the server computer system110. Pod definition data includes data identifying the specificbiological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f that are part of the pod. Poddefinition data may also include data identifying the peripheral devicesfor which the biological reagent instruments in the pod are configured.The pod definition data may be modified by a user to reconfigure themembership and existence of virtual pods. This allows for dynamicgrouping of biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f, and virtual podmembership may be altered without reconfiguring any part of thebiological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f themselves. An example of adatabase schema for the pod definition data is shown in FIG. 2.

The user interface component 110 b may request pod definition data fromthe database component 110 c. This enables the user interface component110 b to include information about virtual pod membership in the one ormore UI instances it generates. It also enables the user interfacecomponent 110 b to bind specific UI instances to specific pods, which isdone if a single specific UI instance is to control only a singlecorresponding virtual pod, or is to control a predetermined number ofvirtual pods.

To enable the execution of appropriate sample processing protocols, asdescribed above the server computer system 110 is connected to LIS 125through the communication network 115. The server computer system 110includes an LIS interface component 110 d that enables the servercomputer system 110 to receive information from the LIS 125, therebyenabling the server computer system 110 to control the biologicalreagent instruments 120 a-120 f in accordance with appropriateprotocols. The LIS 125 may store patient data and the names of testsrequired to be applied to patient samples. In some configurations, itmay store additional data, including protocol-related data.

Users at client computer devices 130 a and 130 b may be required to beauthenticated in order to control any of the virtual pods 140 a, 140 b.The user may enter their username and password (or other identificationdata) into the UI instance at the client computer device 130 a, 130 b.This identification data is sent to an authentication computer system.This authentication computer system may be in the form of a usermanagement component 200, as illustrated in FIG. 3. User managementcomponent 200 may be a component within server computer system 110.Alternatively, it may be or be part of a distinct computer system. Inthe latter case, the server computer system 110 may include aninterception component 110 e for intercepting any identification datasent to the server computer system 110 from a client computer device 130a, 130 b, and redirecting (or resending) that identification data to theuser management component 200. Alternatively, client computer devices130 a, 130 b may be configured to send identification data directly tothe user management component 200, for example where the user managementcomponent 200 is a computer system distinct from the server computersystem 110.

Where the UI instances are displayed on the client computer device 130a, 130 b by a web browser application, the identification data may besent using HTTP Basic authentication, during a HTTPS session. Otherforms of identification data and authentication mechanisms may be used.For example, Digest authentication or Form-Based authentication may beused instead of Basic authentication, again preferably over an HTTPSsession.

The authentication computer system may be an existing system that atleast in part operates independently of the server computer system 110,such as an Active Directory authentication system, or an authenticationsystem that uses LDAP lookups. Such systems may already be operationaland in place at the laboratory, and may be reconfigured to operate asdescribed above.

Upon receipt of the identification data, the user management component200 invokes the execution of an authentication process to generatecredential data for authenticating the client computer device for acommunications session with the server computer system 110, thecommunications session enabling a user at the client computer device tocontrol one or more biological reagent instruments in one or morevirtual pods. The credential data is sent to the server computer system110.

By having a separate authentication computer system (user managementcomponent 200) undertake the task of user authentication, authenticationand user details need not be stored in the server computer system 110(where the authentication computer system 200 is distinct from theserver computer system 110), or may be compartmentalised in a separatecomponent (where the authentication computer system is a sub-system ofcomputer system 110).

In one embodiment, the user interface component 110 b is a web server,such as the Apache HTTP Server, which may execute scripts (such as thosewritten in PHP), and can read to or write from database storage using anappropriate language, such as SQL. In such an embodiment, the userinterface component receives HTTP requests including user credentials inthe HTTP Authentication header. These requests are redirected to, andauthenticated by, the authentication computer system 200 before the HTTPrequests are passed on to the server computer system 110.

Where the user interface component 110 b is a web server, the UIinstances may be rendered at the client computer device 130 a, 130 busing a standard web browser application. The user interface instancesmay take the form of a markup language such as HTML or XML, togetherwith scripts such as those written in PHP or JavaScript. Alternatively,a suitable application framework, such as Microsoft Silverlight or AdobeFlash may be used.

As described above, in other embodiments the user interface component110 b may not be a web server, and may be a UI server which modifies thebehaviour or appearance of user interface instances created by softwareexecuting on the client computer devices 130 a, 130 b.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process that may be undertaken by server computersystem 110 to generate a user-interface instance for use by a clientcomputer device (for example, client computer device 130 a) to control,through a communications network 115, a virtual pod 140 a, 140 brepresenting one or more biological reagent instruments 120 a-120 f. Atstep 300, the server computer system 110 receives from the clientcomputer device 130 a a request for the UI instance. The client computerdevice 130 a may generate this request automatically upon booting up ofthe client computer device 130 a. Alternatively, the request may begenerated upon the launch of a dedicated application, or a standard webbrowser application, on client computer device 130 a. In response to therequest, at step 305, the server computer system 110 generates and sendsa first UI instance to the client computer device 130 a throughcommunications network 115. This may involve the server computer 110sending instructions to the client computer device 130 a to launch afirst UI instance generated at the client computer device 130 a. Thefirst UI instance prompts the user to enter identification data uniqueto the user (for example, a username and password). As discussed above,this identification data is sent to an authentication computer system200 (either directly, or through a redirection).

The server computer system 110 receives from the user managementcomponent 200, at step 310, credential data for authenticating theclient computer device 130 a. The authentication of the client computerdevice 130 a is a substitute for authenticating the user directly, theauthentication enabling the client computer device 130 a, oninstructions from the user, to control one or more biological reagentinstruments 120 a-120 f in a virtual pod.

Each user of the server computer system 110 is associated with one ormore roles. Each role is associated with rule data that identifies theactions that are allowed to be performed by users having that role, andthe results data visible to users having the role. The server computersystem 110 retrieves the user-specific information (for example, roleinformation) from a database component (for example, database 110 c, oranother database) (step 315). The server computer system 110 alsoretrieves from the database (for example, database 110 c), at step 320,virtual pod definitions (in the form of pod definition data) using theuser-specific information. The virtual pod definitions that areretrieved are only those definitions for virtual pods associated with aspecific user (or a specific role associated with the user).

At step 325, the user interface component 110 b of the server computersystem 110 generates and sends to the client computer device 130 a theuser-interface instance based on the user-specific information and theone or more virtual pod definitions, the user-interface instanceenabling a user at the client computer device 130 a to control only thevirtual pods defined by the (retrieved) virtual pod definitions. Theuser interface component 110 b tailors the user interface instance byonly showing (or enabling the activation of) user interface elements foractions that the user is able to take (based on the user or the roledefinitions associated with the user), and only showing informationrelating to virtual pods that the user has the authority to control. Anexample screenshot of a user interface, showing the virtual pods thatthe user has the authority to control, is shown in FIG. 5. Preferably,the user interface shows only, for each virtual pod over which the userhas control:

-   -   the instruments allocated to that virtual pod;    -   the cases and slides that are being processed on that virtual        pod;    -   the maintenance schedule for the instruments in that virtual        pod;    -   the test procedures and reagents that are allowed to be used on        that virtual pod.

In the described embodiment, the server computer system 110 is astandard computer system such as an 32-bit or 64-bit Intel Architecturebased computer system, as shown in FIG. 6, and the process describedabove with reference to FIG. 4 executed by the server computer system110 is implemented in the form of programming instructions of one ormore software modules 602 stored on non-volatile (e.g., hard disk)storage 604 associated with the computer system, as shown in FIG. 6.However, it will be apparent that at least parts of the processdescribed above with reference to FIG. 4 could alternatively beimplemented as one or more dedicated hardware components, such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and/or fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs).

The server computer system 110 includes standard computer components,including random access memory (RAM) 606, at least one processor 608,and external interfaces 610, 612, 614, all interconnected by a bus 616.The external interfaces include universal serial bus (USB) interfaces610, at least one of which is connected to a keyboard and a pointingdevice such as a mouse 618, a network interface connector (NIC) 612which connects the system 110 to a communications network 115, and adisplay adapter 614, which is connected to a display device such as anLCD panel display 622.

The system 110 also includes a number of standard software modules 626to 630, including an operating system 624 such as Linux or MicrosoftWindows, web server software 626 such as Apache, available athttp://www.apache.org, scripting language support 628 such as PHP,available at http://www.php.net, or Microsoft ASP, and structured querylanguage (SQL) support 630 such as MySQL, available fromhttp://www.mysql.com, which allows data to be stored in and retrievedfrom an SQL database 632.

Together, the web server 626, scripting language 628, and SQL modules630 provide the system 110 with the general ability to allow clientcomputing devices 130 a, 130 b equipped with standard web browsersoftware to access the system 110 and in particular to provide data toand receive data from the database 632.

However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thespecific functionality provided by the system 110 to such users isprovided by scripts accessible by the web server 626, including the oneor more software modules 602 implementing the process described abovewith reference to FIG. 4, and also any other scripts and supporting data634, including markup language (e.g., HTML, XML) scripts, PHP (or ASP),and/or CGI scripts, image files, style sheets, and the like.

The use of virtual pods, as described above, has at least the followingadvantages:

-   -   laboratory users can easily configure and reconfigure groups of        laboratory reagent instruments and associated peripheral devices        without having to physically re-connect or rewire instruments or        peripheral devices;    -   instruments and peripheral devices may be physically moved        without the need for any reconfiguration;    -   users can be assigned pods having instruments configured        appropriately to their role and/or experience;    -   users are presented with a user interface uncluttered by        instruments and functions to which they do not have access;    -   reagents can be restricted to specific instruments; for example        reagents for research purposes can be restricted to research        only instruments (that may form a research-only virtual pod); or        tests approved by government agencies (such as the United States        Food and Drug Administration) may only run on certified        instruments or instruments listed in the government registration        for that particular test; and    -   tests can be allocated (and confined) to instruments which have        been the subject of regulatory approval.

Many modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art withoutparting from the scope of the present invention.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (orinformation derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not,and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form ofsuggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it)or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the fieldof endeavour to which this specification relates.

What is claimed is:
 1. A server computer system comprising: a processorconfigured to control communication with and control at least twovirtual pods which comprise a first virtual pod and a second virtualpod, wherein the first virtual pod comprises a first set of at least twobiological reagent instruments from among a plurality of biologicalreagent instruments and a first dedicated user interface (UI) instance,to be displayed by a client computer device, wherein the first dedicatedUI instance controls said at least two of the plurality of biologicalreagent instruments and the second virtual pod comprises a second set ofat least two other biological reagent instruments from among theplurality of biological reagent instruments and a second dedicated UIinstance, to be displayed by the client computer device, wherein thesecond dedicated UI instance controls the second set of the at least twoother biological reagent instruments, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to control communication with the plurality of biologicalreagent instruments using a first communications network, and to controlcommunication with the client computer to provide the first dedicated UIinstance and the second dedicated UI instance via a secondcommunications network, wherein, in response to a request, from theclient computer device, to control the first virtual pod, the processorcontrols to communicate the first UI instance to the client computerdevice so that the first set of biological reagent instruments arecontrolled by the client computer device using the received first UIinstance, wherein the client computer is remote from the first virtualpod, and wherein the first virtual pod is at a physical locationdifferent from a location of the second virtual pod.
 2. The servercomputer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first set of the atleast two biological reagent instruments are commonly configured toundertake a first type of activities and wherein the second set of theat least two other biological reagent instruments are commonlyconfigured to undertake a second type of activities different from thefirst type of activities.
 3. The server computer system as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the first dedicated UI instance controls all of thebiological reagent instruments in the first virtual pod and peripheraldevices dedicated to the first virtual pod and the second dedicated UIinstance controls all of the biological reagent instruments in thesecond virtual pod and the peripheral devices dedicated to the secondvirtual pod.
 4. The server computer system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the first set of the at least two biological reagent instrumentsof the first virtual pod are commonly configured to exclusively performat least one specific task or type of task and wherein the second set ofthe at least two other biological reagent instructions of the secondvirtual pod are commonly configured to exclusively perform the same atleast one specific task or the type of task.
 5. The server computersystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first set of the at least twobiological reagent instruments of the first virtual pod are commonlyconfigured to use: a predetermined set of reagents; and a predeterminedset of procedures, and wherein the first dedicated UI instance,generated by the processor, comprises instructions to control the atleast two biological reagent instruments to interact with thepredetermined set of reagents and to execute the predetermined set ofprocedures.
 6. The server computer system as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe first set of the at least two biological reagent instruments of thefirst virtual pod are commonly configured to use a first common set ofperipheral devices and wherein the second set of the at least two otherbiological reagent instruments of the second virtual pod are commonlyconfigured to use a second common set of peripheral devices located at aphysical location different from the first common set of peripheraldevices.
 7. The server computer system as claimed in claim 6, wherein atleast one of the first common set of peripheral devices and the secondcommon set of peripheral devices comprises at least one of: a labelprinter; and a barcode scanner.
 8. The server computer system as claimedin claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to store poddefinition data representing one or more virtual pod definitions of thefirst virtual pod and the second virtual pod and wherein the processorobtains from the memory the pod definition data to generate theplurality of UI instances.
 9. The server computer system as claimed inclaim 1, further comprising a transceiver component configured tocommunicate with a laboratory information system via the firstcommunication network, wherein the processor is further configured tointerface with, and receive, via the transceiver, laboratory informationfrom a laboratory information system.
 10. The server computer system asclaimed in claim 9, wherein the processor receives laboratoryinformation relating to at least one of the configuration and operationof at least one of the virtual pods.
 11. The server computer system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured toreceive credential data for authenticating a user of the client computerdevice, and to retrieve user-specific information from a memory, whereinthe processor is further configured to customize the UI instances basedon the user-specific information.
 12. The server computer system asclaimed in claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured tocommunicate with the client computer device via the first communicationnetwork, wherein the processor is further configured to generate andsend, via the transceiver, UI instances to be rendered at the clientcomputer device using a web browser.
 13. The server computer system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein each of the first dedicated UI instance andthe second dedicated UI instance comprises instructions for the clientcomputer device to launch, or modify the behavior or appearance of, auser interface generated at the client computer device.
 14. The servercomputer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the biological reagentinstruments comprise at least three of a staining instrument,autostainer, tissue processor, coverslippers, and microarray instrumentsand wherein the first virtual pod is at a first laboratory and thesecond virtual pod at a second laboratory, which is remote from thefirst laboratory.
 15. The server computer system as claimed in claim 1,wherein each of the first dedicated UI instance and the second dedicatedUI instance is in a markup language and comprises software instructionsto control the at least two biological reagent instruments of the firstvirtual pod, cases, and slides processed by the at least two biologicalreagent instruments, maintenance schedule of the at least two biologicalreagent instruments, and test procedures and reagents that are used bythe respective virtual pod.
 16. A method of controlling a plurality ofbiological reagent instruments, the method comprising: receiving, by aserver from a first client computer which is a dedicated computer for afirst virtual pod from among a plurality of virtual pods, a request tocontrol a second virtual pod from among the plurality of virtual pods,wherein each of the plurality of virtual pods comprises an exclusive setof at least two from among the plurality of biological reagentinstruments; in response to receiving the request, the server generatesa plurality of user interface (UI) instances for the plurality ofvirtual pods comprising a first UI instance comprising a first set ofinstructions to control the first virtual pod including instructions tocontrol the respective set of the at least two biological reagentinstruments belonging to the first virtual pod and a second userinterface (UI) instance which comprises instructions to control thesecond virtual pod including instructions to control the respective setof the at least two biological reagent instruments belonging to thesecond virtual pod; and transmitting, from the server, the generatedsecond UI instance to the first client computer which controls thesecond virtual pod via the server using the second UI instance, whereinthe first client computer controls the first virtual pod and the secondvirtual pod via the server.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thefirst virtual pod and the second virtual pod are configured to performdifferent types of tasks, and wherein the generating, by the server, ofthe plurality of UI instances comprises: retrieving, from a memory pod,data definitions which comprises data identifying each of the pluralityof biological reagent instruments and classifying the respectivebiological reagent instrument to one of the plurality of virtual podsand data identifying peripheral devices belonging to the respectivevirtual pod from among the plurality of virtual pods; and generating theplurality of the UI instances based on the retrieved pod datadefinitions such that each of the plurality of the UI instancescomprises the instructions dedicated to control only the biologicalreagent instruments and the peripheral devices belonging to therespective virtual pod.